Agenda and minutes

            The Chair firstly introduced and welcomed the new Members of the Board. He discussed the previous work undertaken by the Board to achieve White Ribbon status. It was agreed that an action plan would be circulated, together with dates for a Working Party. The Working Party would meet to consider any suggested amendments and to give final approval before submission for White Ribbon Status.

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 20^th February 2018 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

            It was reported that no questions had been received.

The minutes from the previous Safer Halton Partnership (SHP) meeting held on 21^st February 2018 were presented to the Board for information.

          The Board considered a report on the work carried out to tackle Alcohol and Substance misuse across the Borough involving Young Addaction and specialist community services for adults. The report provided:

·       Information against related targets set in the Community Strategy;

·       Details of the services provided by Young Addaction;

·       Information on the specialist community services provided for adults, including the number of those engaged in recovery support and structured treatment and recovery rates;

·       A summary of key achievements in the last quarter; and

·       Emerging issues around opiate clients and the expansion of the needle exchange services in Runcorn and Widnes.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

            The Board considered a copy of the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Annual report for Halton 2017-18, and received an update on the Integrated Risk Management Plan 2017-18 (IRMP).

            On behalf of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, Stuart Devereux attended the meeting and outlined the Service performance in Halton during the past year and compared the different type of incidents attended to previous year performance. The Board noted:

·         A new Fire Chief had been recently appointed;

·         The recruitment of apprentice Fire Fighters in Cheshire;

·         Details on the Fire Station Build Programme and the current Fire Service Property Enhanced Programme;

·         Information on the blue light collaboration;

·         The outcome of the staff survey; and

·         Information on safe and well visits.

                        RESOLVED: That

1.    the report be noted; and

2.    the Board thanked Stuart Devereux for his informative presentation.

          The Board considered a report by the Director Enterprise, Community and Resources, which outlined the transfer of Channel and Prevent responsibilities from the Police to local authorities’ responsibility. The Prevent Strategy had been reviewed and revised in line with the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. The Act placed a duty on specified authorities requiring them to have due regard to preventing people from being drawn into terrorism.  It also established a statutory responsibility for every local authority to ensure they had an identified panel to assess the vulnerability of identified individuals and put in place support plans, known as ‘Channel Panels’.

          Since the establishment of the Channel Programme the responsibility for assessment and case management had been held by the Police.  However, in line with a broader aim to position all Prevent activity closer to local communities and forging a stronger link with local authority safeguarding activities, the Home Office had indicated their desire to transfer many responsibilities from the Police to local authorities.

          In 2016, the Home Office initiated the ‘Dovetail’ pilot to assess the feasibility of transferring the resources and responsibility for administering the process and case management aspects of Channel from the police to local authorities, trialled initially in nine areas. The evaluation of the pilot was broadly positive and the decision of the Home Office was to extend the transfer of functions from the police to local authorities in more areas on a regional basis, commencing in the North West. The intention was to implement a regional model with funding being provided by the Home Office to resource the assessment of referrals and management of cases by Local Authority Channel Coordinators.

          An initial consultation meeting was held in October 2017 with Channel Panel Chairs and other local authority representatives on the options on the allocation of Coordinators in the region, based on current referral and case activity, and the expectations on local authorities to manage and recruit to these nationally defined roles.  For the Merseyside and Cheshire part of the region a preferred option of a ‘Three-Hub Model’ was identified on the day by the local authority representatives in attendance. Consequently, discussion was held on possible management arrangements and the expectation of hosting by one local authority in the area. It was considered that, due to the level of existing resource and understanding already in place on Prevent and Channel, Liverpool City Council was best positioned to host these new roles, subject to clarity of hosting requirements, funding provision and service level arrangements across the wider area.

          It was noted that work is currently going on to draw up role descriptions for those posts. The posts would be fully funded by the Home Office.

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

          The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Enterprise, Community and Resources, which presented Halton’s response to Organised Criminal Gangs and the Government Strategy to tackle County Lines and Childhood Criminal Exploitation. The Serious and Organised Crime Strategy placed significant emphasis on the importance of effective local partnerships. To support this, a partnership group had been established, chaired by the Chief Executive to tackle organised crime groups in Halton (Operation Portfolio). The key objectives of the partnership group were outlined in the report.

          Donna Wells from Young Addaction, was also in attendance to provide a presentation which highlighted the work by the service to deliver The Criminal Exploitation Project – Risk and Resilience. This was a project which aimed to prevent children being drawn into criminal activities by older criminals and gangs. Approximately 40 young people had taken part in the project delivered to groups and one to one and included support from the Amy Winehouse Foundation and Gangs Line. It was noted that feedback from those children and parents who had been involved in the project had been positive.

          RESOLVED: That the report and presentation on Halton Council’s Criminial Exploitation Project be noted.